Certain high-density electronic devices, such as currency or bill validators, use switching power supplies to provide the needed voltage levels, for example, to drive the various components of the validator. Such power supplies, however, may require high power switches which may be damaged by high voltage transients. Furthermore, certain known switcher designs dissipate commonly found energy transients as heat, for example, through the use of an RC circuit. Such designs not only waste the unused energy, but typically require heat sinks or other means to prevent the validator from overheating and damaging electrical or other components.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide a switching power supply which overcomes the aforementioned problems and which can be advantageously used in high-density devices, such as banknote validators.